2017年12月英语四级美文：The Story of Sissa

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　　2017年12月英语四级美文100篇汇总

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　　The Story of Sissa

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　　There was once a victim of overwhelming numbers

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　　called King Shirham of India,

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　　who, according to the old legend,

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　　wanted to reward his grand Prime Minister Sissa for inventing

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　　and presenting to him the game of chess.

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　　The desire of the clever minister seemed very modest.

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　　“Majesty,” he said kneeling in front of the king,

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　　“give me a grain of wheat to put on the first square of this chessboard,

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　　and two grains to put on the second square,

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　　and four grains to put on the third.

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　　And so, oh King, doubling the number for each succeeding square,

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　　give me enough grains to cover all 64 square of the board.”

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　　“You do not ask for much, oh my faithful servant,”

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　　exclaimed the king,

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　　secretly enjoying the thought

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　　that his liberal proposal of a gift to the inventor

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　　would not cost him much of his treasure.

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　　“Your wish will certainly be granted.”

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　　And he ordered a bag of wheat to be brought to the throne.

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　　But when the counting began,

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　　it was found that the bag was emptied

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　　before the twentieth square was accounted for.

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　　More bags of wheat were brought before the king

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　　but the number of grains needed for each succeeding square

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　　increased so rapidly

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　　that it soon became clear that with all the crop of Indian

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　　the king could not fulfill his promise to Sissa.

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　　To do so would have required 18，446，744，073，709，551，615 grains!

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　　Assuming that a bushel of wheat contains about 5 million grains,

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　　one would need some 4×1012 bushels to satisfy the demand of Sissa.

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　　Since the world production of wheat averages about 2×109 bushels a year,

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　　the amount requested by the minister was that of the world’s wheat production

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　　for the period of some two thousand years!

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　　Thus King Shirham found himself deep in debt to his minister

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　　and had either to face the incessant flow of the latter’s demands,

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　　or to cut his head off.

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　　We suspect that he chose the latter alternative.

　　2017年12月英语四级美文100篇汇总

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